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Elle curled into herself as she listened, tucking her knees against her chest where she sat against the stone column. She would have been pained to hear Lonan's sad words, but in truth, Elle felt nothing from him that worried her. He did not seem upset, despite the grim image he painted.

"I never knew." For a while, she was silent...a distant drip setting pace to the moments. Slowly, she uncovered a crescent of the firefly jar, tapping the side gently until they stirred. Underlit by their gentle flicker, she lifted her eyes and tried to spot Lonan in the dark. All but a hint of his face vanished in shadows. "We should go. I'd rather talk about this somewhere sa-....somewhere else."

There was a hint of an apology in her voice as Elle got up carefully, and reached one hand out into the darkness.

Asrafel flitted around the area desperately. They said they would be here.. but the place was huge and dark and cavernous and there were nooks and crannies and he was freaking out.

He'd never find them. He didn't have time to waste trying, if he couldn't get to them he would have to find others.

In desperation he did the only thing he knew how; he screamed.

"EEELLLLLLLLLLLEEEEE! LONAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!"

His voice echoed violently. He cringed, hoping that he wasn't about to cause some horrible cave in or something, and fluttered higher into the sky. He zipped about, trying to peer inside one dark crack, then another, but there was nothing to see.

Then he stopped. A look crossed his face as if someone had just slapped him across it, and he fell still.

As soon as his wings stopped beating he began to plummet to the ground, which caught him off guard. They began beating furiously as he tried to regain his balance in mid-air, but he still landed roughly on his bare a** on a flat slab of rock. His face went sour as his rear throbbed, and he rubbed it as he stood up.

Then he felt it again.

It was like an explosion, only silent, and inside him. It felt like emotional heartburn.

It was happening.

And again he felt it. This time he could almost tell which direction it came from. He turned towards that direction as if it would help, but all he saw was dusty rock.

He felt one from behind and swiveled in place. Then he fell to his knees as the feeling turned into pain. It was the same as before, only many times over, and all in the same place. Wherever this one was occuring, the most danger rested there.

The next thrust hit him, only slightly less painful than the one before it. But he was already down, and he simply focused on trying to figure out what he was feeling. Three. The pain was caused by three at once. That was it.

The softer, painless heartburn feeling came back to him two more times before he was sure they had stopped. He sat there on the rock, with his chin resting against his fist.

He had felt this feeling before.

But never so many at once. Never so angry. Never this strong.

Thunder rolled in the distance, warning him of the coming storm.

Asrafel's eyes narrowed in determination, but truly he was shaking in fear.

"Then it's war."

Elle, unfortunately, had heard nothing. Not that it was surprising, considering Lonan's sensitivity, but what happened next was entirely unexpected. Elle gasped as Lonan scooped her up, pressing her lips together and clinging to him as he ran. Every second, she flinched...convinced they were going to rush head long into a column, or take a fatal step into one of the hidden gorges. Lonan's path was sure, though, and in moments Elle found herself back on her feet and blinking in dim daylight.

"Lonan, day? Are you lo- Asra?!" Disoriented, and a little ill both from the run through the caves, and the continuous waves of tension rolling off Lonan, Elle put one hand on the rock face to steady herself. Everything was still a bit topsy turvy, but she looked around nonetheless, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I don't- uuuh!" It wasn't just coming from Lonan. There was something dire, something projecting so strongly that it hit Elle like a punch to the stomach. Pinching the bridge of her nose, willing herself not to throw up, Elle tried to focus.

"Asra!!"

Lonan used the senses available to him, carefully scanning Asra. He was panicked, tense, but so far unharmed. he felt bad about causing Elle discomfort but the bigger concerns needed to be addressed for the moment.

"We are alright, if a bit ruffled. Nothing has come close to us yet."

There was a wariness in his stance. He knew something was coming, something entirely unpleasant. A wing replaced his arm around Elle, freeing it to lay over Asra's on his arm briefly. A faint smudge was left on the back of the hand. To anyone else it was negligible, but he'd be able to follow the faint mixture of scent and aura flawlessly.

That does not mean he was not unsettled. Clamping down on his emotions the best he could, lest they spill into Elle, did not completely hide his reactions.

"What is coming? Why does the air here feel like a bleed?"

Asrafel's sad smile washed away as he felt what his companions before him were feeling; only he, being the one who held the orbs that called out to new life, could tell exactly where it was coming, and he realized that he had gotten to them just in time. To be caught in that dark cave would have been so dangerous.. he shuddered to think of the possibilities.

His eyes remained directed at the darkness from which Elle and Lonan had emerged, and his jaw clenched tightly.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but I do know we're in a lot of danger. We've got to stick together, okay?"

His voice waivered at his last word, but he took a deep breath and let his worry slide off him.

A blink of color flushed out from the darkness, growing bigger as a figure moved up. Asrafel squinted his eyes to see it, then blinked several times as his mind wrapped around it.

He gave a sharp side glance to Elle beside him, before looking back at the woman who sauntered out of the darkness.

Maybe, he thought for a split second, he was just having a dream. A fantasy, even.

The thought was fleeting.

As soon as the other figure neared Lonan tensed. She had the same basic scent as Elle, nearly identical gate. But the feeling coming off of her was completely wrong. The smaller set of wings tightened instinctively around Elle and Asra. The larger set fanned out, feathers flaring, making them look larger and almost like blades. Then Lonan's face took more than the mere hint of an expression. Scowling at the double he looked down right vicious and violent. The extreme compared to his usually calm and apathetic mask had shattered, replacing it with one not too unlike a demon.

"They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I'm afraid you fell far short of the mark." The words were soft, but the tone was completely alien. Gone was the soft touch of air, replaced with a barely restrained growl of agitation. He didn't need to 'see' her to know she was wrong. He had never needed to let anything surface before, but for those he held closest he would do it without hesitation.

Elle frowned at the negative tone in Lonan's voice, and breathed a quick sigh in before ignoring him completely and turning to her original. She reached out for Elle's hand with her own, palm unturned and open.

"It's a rather long story!" She spoke with a touch of amusement coloring her voice. Her eyes danced to Asra, and her lips pursed in a pleading manner.

"You understand this better than we do, don't you? Please explain things. I'd much rather not be thought of as an enemy."

Lonan had yet to relax at all. The voice may have been soft, friendly. But it wasn't right.

"A pretty face and a sweet voice do not a friend make." The wings had crouched down a bit, folding slightly, and the scowl had lessened. But still there was just something off about the whole thing. Her scent was just... it was like a bad mix of paint. It looked fine but it wasn't right.